# What is my IP URL: https://discuvr.org/what-is-my-ip/ Last updated: 2026-11-08 MCP tool: `describe_ip_address` See your public IP address instantly, IPv4 or IPv6, and whether your provider puts you behind CGNAT. No geolocation lookup, nothing stored. IT support asks for it, a client wants to whitelist it, a VPN or firewall rule needs it. This page shows the public address your connection uses, read straight from the connection itself, and explains what kind of address it is. ## What it does - Your public IPv4 or IPv6 address with one-click copy. - Tells you if your provider uses carrier-grade NAT, which breaks port forwarding and remote access. - Binary, decimal and reverse-DNS forms of the address. - Shows what your browser sends every website: user agent, languages, time zone and screen. - No third-party geolocation lookup and nothing stored. ## How it works 1. Open the page - your address is already shown. 2. Press Copy to paste it into a ticket, allow-list or firewall rule. ## Public address vs the address on your laptop Your laptop usually has a private address such as 192.168.1.23 or 10.0.0.15, handed out by your router. Those ranges are reused in millions of homes and offices, so no website ever sees them. What a website, a client firewall or an IP allowlist sees is the public address your router or provider puts on the traffic, which is the one shown here. When a client asks for your IP to whitelist, this is the one to send. ## Carrier-grade NAT and why port forwarding fails If your public IPv4 address starts with 100.64 to 100.127 (the 100.64.0.0/10 block in RFC 6598), your provider shares one real address between many customers. Opening a port on your own router then does nothing, because the provider's equipment sits in front of it. The usual fixes are asking the provider for a public IPv4 address, using IPv6 if both ends support it, or a tunnel service. ## IPv4 and IPv6 side by side Many connections now have both. A site you visit picks one, so an allowlist that only holds your IPv4 address can still block you when your browser connects over IPv6. If a remote system rejects you even though your IPv4 address is allowed, add the IPv6 address shown here as well, or ask for the /64 prefix to be allowed, since the last part of an IPv6 address can change. ## Writing your address into an allowlist or firewall rule Most firewalls and cloud consoles expect ranges in CIDR notation, so one IPv4 address is written with /32, for example 203.0.113.7/32 (an address reserved for documentation), and one IPv6 address with /128. The last 64 bits of an IPv6 address often change, because devices use temporary privacy addresses (RFC 8981), so a rule for a single IPv6 address can stop working within a day. Allow the /64 prefix instead: the first four groups of the full form, such as 2001:db8:1234:5678::/64. A /64 covers every device on that network, so keep it to systems that also ask for a password or key. To check what a wider range such as /24 covers, use the IP Subnet Calculator. ## Questions **Why did my IP address change?** Most home and mobile connections get a dynamic address that the provider can change on reconnect, after a router restart or on a schedule. If you need one that stays put for an allowlist, ask your provider for a static IP or use a VPN with a dedicated address. **Does a VPN change what this page shows?** Yes. With a VPN on, this page shows the VPN server's address, which is what every other site sees too. Turn the VPN off and reload to see your provider's address. **Why is this different from the IP in my network settings?** Your computer usually has a private address (like 192.168.x.x) on the local network. The router translates it to one public address, which is what websites and allow-lists see. **Is my address stored?** No. It is read from the connection to build this page and never written to a database, log or usage record. **Why does it not show my city?** Locating an address means sending it to a third-party database, and those guesses are often wrong by hundreds of kilometres. This page keeps your address on this server only. **What are the binary, decimal and reverse DNS forms for?** They are the same address written differently. 203.0.113.7 is 3405803783 as one decimal number, the way some databases and logs store it, and 7.113.0.203.in-addr.arpa is the name a reverse DNS (PTR) lookup asks for, with the four parts reversed. This page only builds that name and does not look it up; run nslookup 203.0.113.7 or dig -x 203.0.113.7 to see whether a PTR record exists. **How do I find my local IP address on Windows, Mac, Linux or a phone?** This page shows your public address; the local one is handed out by your router and only the device itself knows it. Windows: run ipconfig in Command Prompt and read the IPv4 address line. Mac: run ipconfig getifaddr en0 in Terminal (en0 is usually Wi-Fi) or look under Details in the Wi-Fi settings. Linux: run hostname -I or ip -4 addr. Android and iPhone: open the details of the Wi-Fi network you are on. A local address usually starts with 192.168., 10. or 172.16 to 172.31 (the private ranges in RFC 1918), and it can change when the router hands out addresses again. **Is an IP address personal data under the GDPR?** Often, yes. Recital 30 of the GDPR (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) names internet protocol addresses among the online identifiers that can be linked to a person, and the EU Court of Justice held in Breyer (C-582/14, 19 October 2016) that even a dynamic address can be personal data for a website operator that has legal means to identify the visitor through the internet provider. In the EU it is safest to treat addresses in server logs, allowlists and support tickets as personal data. This page reads your address only to show it to you and does not store it. ## More in Office & Data - [Case Converter & Line Tools](https://discuvr.org/case-converter/) - [Text Compare](https://discuvr.org/text-diff/) - [CSV to Excel](https://discuvr.org/csv-to-excel/) - [Sign PDF](https://discuvr.org/sign-pdf/) ## Often used with - [IP Subnet Calculator](https://discuvr.org/ip-subnet-calculator/) - [Website Security Scan](https://discuvr.org/security-scan/) --- Part of Discuvr (https://discuvr.org/): Discuvr is a collection of free, focused tools for day-to-day professional work - office and data utilities, legal and compliance helpers, privacy and security checks, and developer formatters. Every tool has its own page, and most can also be called from ChatGPT or Claude over MCP.